Hot strip down coiler



March 15, 1966 M. P. SIEGER 3,240,043

HOT STRIP DOWN COILER Filed Feb. 28, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. MAURICE F? SIEGER HIS ATTORNE Y March 15, 1966 M. P. SIEGER HOT STRIP DOWN COILER 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 28, 1963 INVENTOR. MAURICE P. SIEGIER HIS ATTORNEY M. P. SIEGER HOT STRIP DOWN COILER March 15, 19%

5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 28, 1963 INVENTOH' MAURICE P. SlEGEiR HIS ATTORNEY March '15, 1966 M. P. SIEGER HOT STRIP DOWN GOILER 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 28, 1963 INVENTOR MAURICE P. SIEGER HIS ATTORNEY March 15, 1966 M. P. SIEGER HOT STRIP DOWN COILER 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 28, 1965 HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,240,043 HOT STRIP DOWN COILER Maurice Paul Sieger, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to United Engineering and Foundry Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a

corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Feb. 28, 1963,Ser. No. 261,652

Claims priority, application Great Britain, Mar. 12, 1962, 9,365/ 62 12 Claims. (Cl. 72-148) This invention'relatesto an apparatus for coilingstrip material and, more particularly, to a coiler for coiling hot metallic strips as they issue from a hot strip rolling mill.

In a highly productive hot strip mill there is usually a series of tandemly arranged coilers provided for receiving and coiling successive strips as they issue from the mill. One of the most serious and objectionable limitations of present-day coilers has reference to the fact that very frequently the coils are formed with telescoping sides; that is to say, the sides of the coils are not straightly formed and certain convolutions thereof protrude outwardly from the main body on one side "thereof.

This telescoping condition is a result, in part, of the infeasibility of providing any means in present coiling systems to hold the rapidly traveling strip against lateral movement from the time it leaves the delivery table and is deflected from its horizontal path of travel, to the time it is wrapped around a mandrel of the coiler. The area between the delivery table and themandrel is sometimes referred to as the throat of the coiler. Past experience has demonstrated that such means greatly increases the risk of strip cobbling.

Telescopic formed coils not only impede the quick and uneventful removal of the coils from the mandrel, so that there are occasions when the coiler is not-ready to receive a succeeding strip that would otherwise be directed to it, but such conditions result in substantial scrap losses, since both the protruding and depressed sides of the coils become damaged duringthe many transfer steps to which they are subjected. Such damage is also brought about when the "coils are stacked one upon another during storage.

Several recent changes in hot strip rolling mill practice have resulted in an accentuat'ion of the problem of coil telescoping. The speeds of recent hot strip mills have been substantially increased, coupled withthe fact that very large diameter coils are now being formed. These changes have all materially contributed to greatly increasing the extent of coil telescoping, because they inherently increase the tendency of the strip to move laterally. The desirability to form larger diameter coils has intensified a problem that has long been a major source of difficulty, even in lower speed mills. This condition, as previously mentioned, is brought about by the unsuccessfulness of the attempts to provide means to hold the rapidly moving strip against lateral movement during its passage through the oblique throat of the coiler. Moreover, for present-day coilers to form larger diameter coils, the strip guiding means provided in the throats of the coilers to confine the upper and lower surfaces of the strips in the vertical plane must be substantially lengthened, thereby aggravating an already bad condition.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for coiling strip which will eliminate substantially or entirely the throat of the coil r, one of the benefits being that strip side guiding means can be employed for restraining the strip from lateral movement beyond a given limit, substantially up until the time it is coiled on the mandrel.

Another object of the present invention is to provide Ice a coiler having a movable mandrel which may b brought into asubstantially tangential relationship with respect to the strip pass line and in some forms with means for controlling movement of the mandrel.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a retractable strip supporting member which supports the strip as it passes over the coiler.

It is another object of this invention to provide a mandrel driving arrangement that will allow the mandrel to be moved relative to the strip pass line without the employment of a universal driving spindle.

According to one form of the present invention, the

mandrel of the coiler is arranged to be moved vertically relative to a delivery table, whereby a portion of its periphery can be tangentially positioned relative to the path of travel of the strip. In one form of the invention, the mandrel will be retained in its raised position until the trailing end of the strip leaves the mill, after whichit will be lowered to its coil stripping position and from where the coil can be removed therefrom.

Such an arrangement not only eliminates the inclined throats of the coilers but also the need of providing individual pinch roll units 'for each coiler, which in prior coilers were needed to drive the strip into the inclined throats. According to the present invention, it is only necessary to employ one pinch roll unit which need only be employed to engage the strip just prior to its trailing end leaving the mill so as to insure that the last convolutions of the coil will be tightly formed upon the mandrel.

The mandrel of the coiler may be either constructed to swing through an arcuate path or to move in a linear path. In the preferred embodiment the mandrel is constructed to move through an arcuate path and defined by a mandrel driving gear, which is arranged at the in- :board end of the mandrel in meshing relationship with a motor pinion about which the driving gear rotates. Since the mandrel rotates with its driving gear, there is no need to employ a universal spindle to drive the mandrel.

Since in some forms the mandrel may not be rigidly secured, means must be provided to offset the cantilever loads created by the overhung mandrel and coil. In the preferred form of the present invention the mandrel has a frame that is rotatably carried by a rigid second frame. Connected to the mandrel frame is a motorized trunnion mounted screw which resists the rotation of the frame against the pressure of a piston cylinder assembly which tends at all times to urge the mandrel into its upper position and against the screw.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, the preferred embodiment thereof will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings of which:

FIGURE 1 is a plane view of the first coiler of a strip coiling system built in accordance with the present invention and showing the retractable table thereof in its retracted position;

FIGURES 2 is an elevational view of the coiler illustrated in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on lines IIIIII of FIGURE 2 wherein the coiler is shown in its upper position;

FIGURE '4 is an elevational view from the operators side of the coiler shown in the previous figures wherein the mandrel thereof is illustrated in its coil discharge position; and

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 4 of the second coiler of the strip coiling system, wherein the mandrel thereof and other related elements are shown in their operative positons.

With reference first to FIGURES 1 and 4, at the end of the runout table 9, farthest away from a hot strip rolling mill, not shown, there is arranged a pinch roll unit which receives strip traveling in the direction of the arrow appearing at the left of FIGURE 1. The axes of rolls 13 and 14 of the pinch roll unit are arranged in a common vertical plane, the top roll 13 being adjustable by conventional means, not shown, and is designed to be brought down to engagement with the upper surface of the trailing portion of the strip S previous to the end thereof leaving the last stand of the hot strip mill. As can be seen in FIGURE 4, the upper roll 13 of the pinch roll is raised indicating that the trailing end of the strip S has not, as yet, left the mill.

Spaced from the pinch roll unit 10 at equal intervals are a number of identical downcoilers, the first coiler 11 being illustrated in FIGURES 1, 2, 3 and 4, while the second coiler 12 is only illustrated in FIGURE 5. As can be observed from FIGURES 4 and 5, the construction of the coiler 11 or 12 consist essentially of a horizontally arranged collapsible type mandrel 15 of a well-known construction and three similar pivotally arranged wrapper roller assemblies 16, 17 and 18. For the coiling of certain types of strip, only two wrapper roller assemblies may be desirable. Each wrapper roller assembly 16, 17 and 18 includes crescent shaped strip guiding plates 22, 23 and 24, respectively, and individually wrapper rollers 25, 26 and 27, respectively, the plates and rollers cooperating to create a substantially continuous circular strip guiding passageway around the mandrel 15, the formed passage- Way being best shown in FIGURE 5. Each of the wrapper roller assemblies 16, 17 and 18 is pivotally connected to a frame 2 8 of the coiler and rotated by individual piston cylinder assemblies 29, 31 and 32.

While the strip guiding members 22 and 24 of the wrapper roller assemblies 16 and 18 are brought directly into'their operative positions by the operation of their respective piston cylinder assemblies, a linkage system is provided for accomplishing this objective relative to the strip guide surface plate 23 of the wrapper roller assembly 17. This leverage system is shown only in FIGURE 4 where there is shown connected to the wrapper roller assembly 17 a link 33 which is non-rotatably secured to the strip guide plate 23. This link is pivotally connected to a second link 34 which, in turn, is connected to the coiler frame 28. In this arrangement upon the operation of the piston cylinder assembly 3 1 to bring the wrapper roller assembly into its operative position, the movement of the wrapper roller assembly will cause rotation of the link 33 which will bring the strip guiding plate 23 into the operative position shown in FIGURE 5. In a modified construction the assemblies 17 and 18 can be mounted on the girders of the adjacent table, whereby the upright members of the coiler can be eliminated.

The upper wrapper roller assembly 16 is mounted above the path of the strip so that its roller 25, when lowered, will engage the periphery of the mandrel 15 when the latter is in its raised position. It will be noted, as shown in FIGURE 5, that when the roller and the mandrel 15 are in their operative positions, the axis of the roller is offset relative to the axis of the mandrel so that the leading end of the strip will be forced downwardly between the guide 22 and .the adjacent surface of the mandrel 15. The wrapper rollers, through universal spindles, are driven by electrical motors 35, being arranged at the drive side of the coiler and shown only in FIGURES 1 and 2. In some constructions these motors may be carried directly by the wrapper roller assemblies, thereby obviating the employment of the universal spindles.

In a three-coiler system, the first two coilers are provided with retractable tables arranged between the adjacent mandrel and the entry table of the next adjacent coiler which tables, when retracted, will allow the upper wrapper roller assemblies 16 to be brought into their operative positions and, when extended, to a position over thecoilers will serve to support a strip passing over the mandrels.

In referring to FIGURES 1 and 5, it will be noted that on each side of the coiler 12 there are provided tables 36 and 37. To the left of the coiler 12 there is provided a pair of horizontally arranged beams 38, having ends that terminate adjacent to the mandrel 15 as can be seen in FIGURE 5 and having liners 39 on their top surfaces. In addition, in the upright portions of the beams, grooves 40 are formed into which is received complementary projections of a frame 41 of a retractable table 42.

In the frame 41 are rotatably received four table rollers 44. The rollers 44 are driven by motors 45 which are carried by a platform secured to the frame 41. Toward one end of the bottom of the table 42 an apron 47 is pivotally secured, which in turn is pivotally secured at its one end to a bell crank 48, the opposite end of the bell crank being pivotally secured to a trunnion mounted piston cylinder assembly 49. In this arrangement upon operation of the piston cylinder assembly 49, table 42 is moved toward the mandrel 15 over the beams 38 being guided by the grooves 40. In its farthest extended position, the one end of the table 42 will overhang the beams and the upper surface of the apron 47 will extend between the last roller of the table 42 and the first roller of the table 36 and thus support the strip passing on to the next coiler.

Another important device for facilitating the conveying of the strip over the coilers, when the mandrel 15 is lowered, has reference to the construction of the wrapper roller assembly 18. In referring to FIGURES 4 and 5, it will be noted that adjacent the one side of strip guide plate 24 an apron 51 of an appreciable length is provided. As shown in FIGURE 5, when a strip is fed to the coiler of which the pron 51 is a part, the apron serves to support the leading end of the strip as it issues into the bite formed by the wrapper roller 25 and the mandrel 15. When the strip is being fed to a succeeding coiler, the apron 51, as shown in FIGURE 4, is not withdrawn. As a result, it cooperates with the table 42 to suport the strip as it passes over the mandrel 15 on its way to the other coiler.

While in the preferred form the table 42 has been made to be retracted in a horizontal direction, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that means may be provided for tilting the table relative to the pass line of the strip and that in some coilers the retraction of the table may not be necessary.

FIGURES 4 and 5 illustrate that the upper wrapper roller assembly 16 is provided with a straight strip guiding apron 52 which cooperates with the apron 51 of the wrapper roller assembly 18 to form a tapering throat for leading the front end of the strip S into the bite of the wrapper roller 25 and the mandrel 15.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the mandrel 15 is designed to be swung through an arc of less than from a position in which a portion of its periphery is tangentially arranged with respect to the path of travel of the strip, as shown in FIGURE 5, to a position remote therefrom. This latter position represents the coil stripping position of the coiler where the coil is removed from the mandrel 15 by a coil car 53. As shown in FIGURE 3 a stop plate 50a is provided which defines the lower position of the mandrel when it engages a plate 50b secured to the mandrel frame.

The mechanism for swinging the mandrel is shown best in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 in which it will be observed that a driven gear 54 is secured to the inboard end of the bearing supported mandrel shaft 55, which meshes with a motor pinion 56. The pinion 56 is directly connected by a spindle 57 to a mandrel motor 58. In addition to the gear and pinion providing for the necessary speed ratio' desired, the gear is designed to rotate about the pinion when the mandrel is swung from its operative to its inoperative positions and vice versa.

To obtain this result the drive frame 59 that houses the gear is provided with spaced-apart clevis connections 60, the one adjacent the mandrel being connected to a 75 connected to the frame 28 of the coiler. significant features of the present invention resides in the fact that the ends of the guards canbe located in close rigid frame 61 by a pin 62 and the one at the other end being connected to a sleeve 63 which is rotatablyre top of the frame 61, the outer ends of a pair of spacedapart screws 66 are connected, the screws being driven by interconnected worm-wheel units 67 which are trunnion mounted on the frame 61 and driven by a motor 68.

In-some constructions it will be only necessary to provide one screw, although in the illustrated form the employment of a pair of screws greatly increases equilibrium and stability of themandrel-drive arrangement. A pressure control 6501 of a well-known construction is provided for the piston cylinder assembly 65, one of the functions of which is to maintain a pressure in the cylin- 'der tending to rotate the frame 59 toward the screws.

In order to offset the tendency of the drive frame 59 from twisting under the cantilever load created by the overhanging weight-of the mandrel and coil, the spacedapart screws 66 are employed to act as adjustable stops for the mandrel 15. The piston cylinder assembly 65 is operated as a uni-directional cylinder and with a pressure that slightly exceeds the cantilever load imposed upon the mandrel shaft 55. In this manner the mandrel is always urged toward its upper position, but prevented from moving until the screws 66 are adjusted. Of course,

when the mandrel is to be lowered, the cylinder pressure is overcome by the force developed by the screws.

71, respectively, of a well-known construction. This construction is exemplified in the guard 69 which, as shown in FIGURE 2, comprises two threaded shafts 72 and 72a which are rotated by a motor 73a carried by a platform One of the proximity to the mandrel.

The operation of the above-discussed arrangement may be briefly summarized as follows:

Assuming that the coil-er 12, shown in FIGURE 5, is to receive the next strip issuing from the hot strip mill, then in that event, its mandrel is raised by operating the screws 66 to allow the pressure of the piston cylinder assembly 65 to lift the mandrel to a position where its upper peripheral surface will be substantially tangentially arranged with respect to the path of the strip S. If necessary, stops which can be made adjustable, can be provided to define the upper position of the mandrel, although the screws themselves can determine this position. Once the mandrel 15 is so positioned, the wrapper roller assemblies 16, 17 and 18 are brought into their operative positions whereby the wrapper rollers 25, 26 and 27 along with their respective crescent-shaped guides 22, 23 and 24 form a cylindrical strip guiding path around the periphery of the mandrel. With the wrapper roller assemblies 16 and 17 so positioned, their aprons 52 and 51, respectively, will automatically form a tapering throat to assist the leading end of the strip into the bit between the wrapper roller 25 and the mandrel 15.

As previously observed, in order to permit the wrapper roller 25 to be lowered, the retactable table 42 must have previously been retracted to its out-of-way position by the operation of the piston cylinder assembly 49. As the strip issues from the hot strip mill, the upper roll 13 (FIGURE 4) of the pinch roll unit It) is raised so as not to contact the strip. According to the usual practice, after several convolutions have been wound around the mandrel 15, the wrapper roller assemblies 16, 17 and 18 are retracted to their inoperative positions. The mandrel, however, will remain in its raised position and continue to coil the strip as it issues from the mill until the trailing end thereof leaves the rolling mill. Immediately previous to the exit of the strip from themill, the top pinch roll 13 will be brought down into engagement with theupper surface of the strip, thereby assuring that an uninterrupted drag will be imposed upon the strip and, thus, assure that the last convolutions of the coil are tightly formed. After this, the mandrel 15 isloweredto its coil removing position by retracting the screws 66 against the constant pressure exertedby the piston cyli'nder-assembly 65. In this position the plate 50a will rest against the plate 501) and the weight ofthe coil will be carried by the frame 61.

Previous to thetrailing end of the strips being wrapped around the coil, the wrapper roller 27 is brought into engagement with the body of the coil, thereby maintaining the last convolution tightly against the body thereof. At the same time the-table '42 can be extended, whereby the table and its apron '47 will extend across the open top of'the coiler and serve as a guiding surface for the next strip that issues from the mill. With the mandrel in its lower position, the coil is removed in a normal 'manner by a coil car 53.

While a downcoiler has been employedtoillustrate and ployed inan upcoiler.

Still another procedure of operating the coiler would be to lower the mandrel gradually as thecoil builds up,

whereby there will be no appreciable deflection in the strip between the top of the coil and the tables 9 or 37 and at the same time the strip will be lifted out of contact with the rollers of these tables. In this construction the motor 58 of the mandrel 15 is provided with atachometer 73 which will be connected toa receiver 74 provided for the motor 68 of the screws 66. In this arrangement the mandrelwill be lowered'in relationship to the progressive formation of the coil on the mandrel. In other occasions the mandrel can be lowered to the coil discharge position as soon as the leading end of the strip is tightly wound thereon.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have'explained the principle and operation of my invention and have illustrated and described what I consider to represent the best embodiment thereof. However, I desire to have it understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. An apparatus for coiling strip-like material comprising:

means for conveying strip issuing in a substantially horizontal path of travel to said apparatus,

a mandrel upon which the strip is coiled,

a frame for rotatably carrying said mandrel,

a support for rotatably carrying said frame,

means connected to and for moving said frame to position said mandrel, first in a position. in close proximity to said path of travel to receive the strip, and second in a position remote from said first position in which position a coil formed upon said mandrel is removed therefrom,

a control means for controlling said means for moving said frame, and

means for operating said control means to effect a movement of said frame away from said path of travel after a coil has been partially formed on said mandrel.

2. An apparatus for coiling strip-like material comprising:

means for conveying strip issuing in a substantially horizontal path of travel to said apparatus,

a mandrel upon which the strip is coiled,

a frame for rotatably carrying said mandrel,

a support for rotatably carrying said frame,

means connected to and for moving said frame to position said mandrel, first in a position in close proximity to said path of travel to receive the strip, and second in a position remote from said first position in which position a coil formed upon said mandrel is removed therefrom,

said mandrel includes a shaft rotatably carried by said frame, I

a driven gear secured to said shaft for driving said shaft,

a driving gear in meshing relationship with said driven gear, and

means for driving said driving gear wherein on operation of said means for moving said frame said driven gear will rotate about said driving gear while maintaining its meshing relatonship therewith.

3. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said means for moving said frame includes a means capable of exerting a force tending to urge said frame in the direction of the first position of said mandrel, and

means capable of exerting a force tending to urge said frame in the direction of the second position of said mandrel.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, including means for controlling the force exerted by said first force exerting means so that, unless the force of said second force exerting means exceeds the force exerted by said first'force exerting means the mandrel will be moved toward its first position. i

5. An apparatus according to claim 3, in which said first force exerting means is a piston cylinder assembly,

and wherein said second force exerting means is a screw so arranged relative to said piston cylinder assembly that the latter will always tend to force the frame against said screw, and

means for adjusting said screw to move the mandrelto its two positions.

6. An apparatus according to claim wherein said piston cylinder assembly is a uni-direction cylinder.

7. An apparatus for coiling strip-like material comprising:

means for conveying strips issuing in a substantially horizontal path of travel to said apparatus, a mandrel upon which a first strip is coiled, means for positioning said mandrel, first in a position in close proximity to said path of travel to receive said first strip, and second in a position remote from said first position, I

means for cooperating with said mandrel when said mandrel is in its first position to guide the leading end of said fi'rst'strip around said mandrel,

means for transferring a second strip over said mandrel when the mandrel is positioned in its second position, and

means for moving said strip transferring means toward and away from said mandrel.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said means for cooperating with said mandrel includes a plurality of strip guiding members,

means for moving said strip guiding members toward and away from said mandrel,

a strip supporting means on one of said strip guiding members,

said strip supporting means serving to support said first strip passing to said mandrel.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said strip guiding members number at least two, one of which is arranged on a first side of said path of travel of the strip and one being arranged on a second side of said path of travel and at the strip entry side of said mandrel,

said strip supporting means being secured to the strip guiding member arranged at the strip entry side of said mandrel,

said last-mentioned member being so arranged that when said mandrel is lowered to its second position, said strip supporting means will cooperate with said strip transferring means to support said second strip as it passes over said mandrel.

10. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said strip guiding member arranged on said first side of said path of travel includes a strip deflecting means, which when the strip guiding member is in its operative position, said deflecting means cooperates with said strip supporting means to form a throat leading to said mandrel.

11. An apparatus according to claim 8, whereinopposed strip side guards are arranged closely adjacent to the region where the leading end of said first strip first contacts the mandrel.

12. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein said strip guiding member arranged on said first side of said path of travel includes a roller of a diameter substantially smaller than the diameter of said mandrel,

said roller being arranged to be brought into close proximity to said mandrel and having'its axis ofiset relative to a vertical plane passing through the axis of said mandrel so that said roller will have a tendency to force the leading end of said first strip around said mandrel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 12/ 1941 Nash et al 242--78.4

2,268,125 *3,021,086 2/1962 Teplitz -242- 

7. AN APPARATUS FOR COILING STRIP-LIKE MATERIAL COMPRISING: MEANS FOR CONVEYING STRIPS ISSUING IN A SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL PATH OF TRAVEL TO SAID APPARATUS, A MANDREL UPON WHICH A FIRST STRIP IS COILED, MEANS FOR POSITIONING SAID MANDREL, FIRST IN A POSITION IN CLOSE PROXMIITY TO SAID PATH OF TRAVEL TO RECEIVE SAID FIRST STRIP, AND SECOND IN A POSITION REMOTE FROM SAID FIRST POSITION, MEANS FOR COOPERATING WITH SAID MANDREL WHEN SAID MANDREL IS IN ITS FIRST POSITION TO GUIDE THE LEADING END OF SAID FIRST STRIP AROUND SAID MANDREL, MEANS FOR TRANSFERRING A SECOND STRIP OVER SAID MANDREL WHEN THE MANDREL IS POSITIONED IN ITS SECOND POSITION, AND MEANS FOR MOVING SAID STRIP TRANSFERRING MEANS TOWARD AND AWAY FROM SAID MANDREL. 